In current medical practice, diagnostic radiographic imaging examinations are usually ordered by clinical healthcare providers and interpreted by radiologists. A written interpretive report is generated by a radiologist and sent to the provider to convey and document the results of the examination. The interpreting radiologist, or other individual performing this function, will generally orally dictate a description and discussion of the abnormalities on the medical images, including text descriptive of his impression of the significance of those abnormalities. A transcriptionist or, in some instances, a computer with voice recognition software, will transform the spoken words of the radiologist into text. The radiologist dictates text documents to fulfill his professional responsibility and to convey the imaging examination results to the provider.
The radiologist is tasked with the mental conversion of an image to text, the text being the only conventional means of conveying, documenting, and communicating the radiologist's interpretation of the medical images. The descriptive text format and wording created for any given radiographic imaging examination in current medical practice will vary depending on the radiologist. Due to variance of the text in free text reporting, it is difficult, if possible at all, to extract statistics suitable for analyzing outcomes from current radiology reports.
Interpreting images is a visual, right brain function in which the radiologist drafts verbal reports of abnormalities against a mental backdrop of knowledge stored in association with images, both images that are learned in training and acquired through experience. Matching the medical images with anatomic diagrams (referred to henceforth as “drawings”) allows the radiologist to remain in that visual, right brain function. Verbal dictation, on the other hand, a left brain language function, is tedious, linear, and tiring. Regardless of how carefully the text is formulated, it still cannot compete with a simple picture.
There is an unmet need in the art for a graphic means of generating reports of abnormalities on radiographic imaging examinations, and other kinds of medical examinations.